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Hiking with Snakes in the Dark

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Lost Maples State Natural area is a different world at night. In the day, hiking along the wide rough trails is pleasant, you may see a deer, but if it’s hot you won’t see much. At night the critters from the mega fauna on down are everywhere, you literally bump into the frogs and snakes.

On Saturday I went up to the nature area to do a story about the leaves changing color early. A friend came along and we ended up going for a bike ride before the hike. By the time we got back the sun was setting. By the time we had finished diner and packed our packs it was dark. Normally heading up an unkonwn trail in the dark may not be such a great idea but East Loop Trail of the park is so wide that even with a quarter moon there was plenty of light to see by.

And the wildlife was everywhere. I took a photo of what I believe was a copperhead that was also using the trail. (I used a zoom lens and gave it plenty of room.) There were so many frogs they bumped into our legs. The deer stood less than 10 yards away. What had been a two mile hike up a service road turned into a safari..